Articles

Mid spring is a wonderful explosion of colour and scent. If you want rainbow colours, tulips will provide that wow factor. Tulips will often come up each year provided they have fertile well drained soil and a sunny position. Most tulips dislike heavy wet soil and you will need to replant with new each year in these conditions. Planting in pots gives a stunning display and you can select different types to give flowers over a period...

Late winter and early spring overlap in March with the traditional winter bulbs such as daffodils brightening many gardens. Daffodils, properly known as Narcissus have flowers from late winter through to spring depending on the variety. The variety February Gold is, as its name suggests, a tall, yellow early flowering variety. Jetfire is a smaller variety with an orange centre and yellow petals. I love the sweet scented varieties...

Late winter can often bring a blast of cold weather but it does not stop plants from starting to grow and flower. Bulbs start the year with crocuses and snowdrops out first. Crocuses do best in sun as the flowers will open wide in the sun, then close as the sun leaves them. Animals such as mice, voles and squirrels often dig up the bulbs especially the larger varieties so I would recommend the species crocuses with smaller flowers....

The new year is a challenging time if you want flowers in your garden. Here are some ideas of plants that will brighten your day in winter. I love Hellebore orientalis which will really give you large colourful flowers in white, pink and velvet dark purple. They are easy to grow and will tolerate full sun (I have one in full sun on a clay soil) but are better suited to slightly shady spots where the soil does not dry out. They are...